


If Ralph Died Instead of Simon

by ConstancePenman



Category: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ralph dies instead of Simon, everyone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-10
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:23:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5395640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstancePenman/pseuds/ConstancePenman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ralph stumbled into the ring of chanting boys. It all went down (up?) hill from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Ralph Died Instead of Simon

Simon took a deep breath. He listened past the flapping parachute of the rotting corpse beside him, listened past the flickering flames below him, to hear the screams of the boys he had known so well before they became something else.

It had started long before Jack’s feast, but that was the night that it had become clear to him. If he shut his eyes tight and even forgot to hear the cries beneath him, he could still hear Ralph’s voice calling out to him, to Piggy, to Samneric, to anyone. But no one had heard him--or, at least, no one had answered him. Eventually, his voice was stomped out at his skull was stomped in. 

It was only chance that Simon had seen the spectacle at all. He’d figured out the truth of the beast--whether that was that the beast was only a rotting corpse or that there was no point fighting it at all as it couldn’t be killed, he wasn’t sure--and he’d wanted to tell them. As he was still disoriented from his earlier hallucinations and blackout, he had almost not heard Ralph’s screeches as he fell into the chanting circle and became, as far the boys were concerned, the beast. Simon hadn’t stayed long after he saw the boys leap onto him, biting him, tearing him apart, but he heard the sickening crunch of Ralph’s skull seconds before he fell off the rocks into the merciless ocean.

After that, he had run off into the jungle in an attempt to hide from the savages that used to be his friends. Well, perhaps not friends. They had never liked Simon. He was too nice and he was no fun: two potentially deadly things to be when surrounded with boys like these. 

The morning after Ralph was killed, Simon had stood near the beach where Piggy was looking morosely at the conch in his hands. Part of him wanted to comfort Piggy, but another part reminded him of what the Lord of the Flies had said. Whether or not the head’s words were merely his own messed up mind telling him what he, on some base level, needed to hear, they held some wisdom. Even Piggy, a true and wise boy, could hurt Simon. He couldn’t risk that. 

When Samneric approached, he was sure one of them had seen him. He was proven right when they called out to him, but he ignored them and ran. 

From there, he wasn’t entirely sure what events lead to Jack’s intense anger. Simon thought that he had seen the twins running through the jungle, but he knew he couldn’t trust much of what he thought. Not here. Not all alone on the island with the Beast constantly looking over his shoulder. The only thing he was sure of was that it had been Jack’s tribe who had started the fire. It couldn’t have been Piggy. He’d seen the familiar body floating out to sea.

Simon had noticed the smoke before it reached him. As soon as he did, he had run to the mountain where the false beast lay. It should have been strange that he had felt so peaceful when he saw Eric trip and die consumed by flame, when he watched as Sam sacrificed himself to bring down Jack and Roger into the fire that they otherwise would have escaped from. He tranquilly observed as the rest of the boys fell to the all-consuming fire. When the final scream faded from the air, Simon took a deep breath and laughed. He laughed not to himself but to the darkness that he knew was watching him as he watched the forest begin to burn itself out. 

“You were wrong!” he said, directing the words to the dead parachutist beside him despite his knowledge of it being no more evil than the rocks he sat on. “They didn’t kill me--they didn’t!” He laughed until he tired of the breathless activity. He surveyed the land, taking note of the collapsing trees and smoldering vines. Slowly but surely, the jungle was burning down.

It was hours later that the fire burned itself out. Keeping a close eye on the remainder of it, Simon began to creep down the mountain. His tired hands grasped at the rock as he climbed. He flinched at the sound of it when his feet hit the ash covered ground. It used to be so beautiful here, but now, because of the boys’ foolishness, it had all been destroyed. He stepped carefully among the ashes until he spotted a bit of green underneath the sickening black. He kneeled down and brushed away the crumbling cinders. Underneath, he found a tiny flower--just a bud. Simon ran his thumb over it, letting out a shuddering breath. There it was: a promise of rebirth. Perhaps the island could survive the ordeals that the boys had put it through.

So entranced by the flower, Simon didn’t hear the heavy footsteps of the approaching naval officer. He only looked up from the green bud when the tall man cleared his throat.

Simon’s smile faded. “Hullo,” he said.

“Hullo. We saw your smoke--are you the only one here?”

Simon glanced over at the rest of the burnt down jungle as if making sure. “Yes,” he answered, his eyes catching a glimpse of what looked like flesh. “I wasn’t always. There used to be more of us.”

“Oh,” the officer said, looking in the same direction as Simon. “Oh,” he repeated, as if only then fully grasping the situation. “Are you all right?”

Simon looked up at the officer, then back down to the flower. He nodded and answered, “Yes. Yes, I think I’m all right.”

After asking the boy a few more questions, the officer offered Simon his hand. Reluctantly, as he was not quite sure if he could trust adults anymore, knowing how they started, he took it. As the two walked away towards the trim cruiser in the distance, Simon looked back at the small flower, and, noticing that it had been crushed, he wondered at the large footprint on top of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Before you ask, yeah, this was for a class. I dunno, I just liked how it turned out. Tell me if you do too!


End file.
